Better composure led to improvement says Mulrone

Barry Mulrone felt that Fermanagh put in much more composed display on Sunday as they followed up their opening day victory over Wexford with a win over Offaly on Sunday at Brewster Park.
Apart from a spell at the start of the second half, Fermanagh were in control of things throughout the game against the Faithful County and Mulrone states that they were much happier with their performance.
“After the Wexford game we were a bit down on ourselves because we didn’t perform the way we should have,” said the Devenish clubman.
“I thought today though that we were probably a lot more composed for the 70 minutes, bar we were maybe sleeping for the first 10 or 15 minutes of the second half.
“I felt for the second game in a row we have dominated their kick out, we squeezed them and forced them into mistakes and hopefully we will be able to keep that up.”
Fermanagh managed to set aside a poor opening to the second half to finish strongly as they ran out eight point victors although he stresses that the important thing for them was to have put another two points on the board.
“That’s the thing that we set out for before every game, the two points. You don’t say you are looking to go out and win by eight or ten points, it’s just about winning the game and getting the two points. When you look at the fixtures, you had Armagh playing Westmeath and Derry playing Westmeath so teams were going to drop points and for us it was about going out and doing our own job.
“I suppose we were fortunate in that we had two home games straight away and we are pleased to have the four points from them because that was the goal,” he added.
Mulrone played his part on Sunday, chipping in with two points as Fermanagh asserted control on the contest in the first half although he feels that he should have scored more on the day.
“I should have had a few more but Rory said after the last game that he is looking for a mixture of point scorers and not just to be relying on the so called shooters. I didn’t get any shots away in the last game so I was at least determined to affect the game going forward and look to chip in against Offaly because that’s what Rory is expecting us to do. I suppose two points will do and hopefully I can continue that the next day,” he commented.
Fermanagh have also shown an keen eye for goal with five having been registered over the opening two league games and Mulrone admits it is something that they have worked on after only managing one goal in the league last time around.
“Last year we weren’t really getting ahead of the ball for those goal chances but I think that’s maybe six or seven goals we have scored including the McKenna Cup and it’s five goals in the league.
“We only had one goal in the league last year so it shows that while Rory is making us get up and down the pitch, he is also making us do the smarter runs ahead of the ball. And it’s not just being ahead of the ball for the sake of it, it is being an open option and I think that is coming into our play quite well at the minute,” he added.
Next up is a meeting with Sligo in Markievicz Park this Sunday as Fermanagh go in search of a third league win but Mulrone is expecting a tough test against a Sligo side who secured their first win on Sunday with victory over Wexford.
“Any time we have been down in Markievicz Park it has never been a simple test,” said Mulrone.
“We will give them all the respect in the world but I feel that it is about us and how we go there, how we think about our game and how we are performing. We’ll get back to training at the start of the week and it will all be set out and we’ll know what way they play. I think we are bringing that into our game where we can see what opposition we are playing and who needs to be where to counteract them and then also focus on ourselves and see how we are going to play.”
And Mulrone says that he is enjoying life under new manager Rory Gallagher and that everybody has bought into what the new management are trying to do.
“I’m really enjoying it. Like any pre-season it was tough but every man on the panel is fighting for his place and everybody has bought into it. It’s like any new management team, you get that wee spark again and that is showing in our play at the minute,” he concluded.

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